1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to microwave ovens and, more particularly, to a microwave oven which is capable of steaming food.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is an appliance which cooks food placed in a cooking cavity using microwaves radiated from a magnetron into the cooking cavity. Typically, an electric cooker cooks food by heating the surfaces of the food, but the microwave oven cooks the food by heating the interior of the food through a dielectric heating method. That is, when microwaves radiated from the magnetron of the microwave oven cause the molecules of moisture laden in the food to vibrate, frictional heat is generated within the food, thereby cooking the food.
However, the conventional microwave oven sometimes produces cooked food that is dried out because the food is cooked by frictional heat generated when microwaves radiated from the magnetron cause the molecules of moisture laden in the food to vibrate, so that moisture is removed from the food during the cooking process. The conventional microwave oven has another problem in that it is difficult to steam food, because water must be added to the food while the food is being cooked. Thus, although the microwave oven is widely used to cook food, a steaming apparatus is additionally required to steam food, thus inconveniencing a user.